The Vigil and Other Stories.
Story wise synopsis.
Story wise synopsis:
1.THE VIGIL is about Naina, a young expectant mother, who is also a very busy professional. She makes all arrangements for the birth of her child but finds she has missed
out on something very vital. Is it too late to make amends?
2.THE GIFT : Love’s gift is the pain that makes a painter’s work very poignant, very appealing. The gift is also the joy which enables the painter to show vibrant, eternal life.
The story is about Mukul Dev's lost love and its repercussions.
3.TIME AND SPACE: Pramila’s plans for a fruitful retired life are totally upset when her married daughter and family move in with her. Her time and space are totally encroached upon. Fortunately she is able to find a dignified way out.
4.OPEN COURT: Radha goes to visit her bedridden aunt. Her husband does not accompany her but issues the diktat that Radha should return home that very day, no matter how late it is. Radha takes the late evening bus and is verbally molested. Instead of responding to her appeal for help, her co-passengers are eager to judge her and the bus becomes an open court.
5.DELUSIONS: Rohit, an actor par excellence, keeps slipping into different characters even when he is not supposed to be acting. The delusions gain alarming proportions. Devika, his fiercely loving wife, finds an unorthodox way to bring him back to reality.
6.SITAS’ LIVES: The epic, Ramayana, has strongly influenced generations of indians for centuries. Ram is the role model for all indian men as is Sita for all indian women. If only Sita had stood up to Ram……The story of Sita’s suffering is not new and her pain strikes a chord with women even today.
7.MR.KRISHNAN: Humour. Mr.Krishnan, bank officer, suffers from a strange ailment which grips him painfully every now and then. But he is a stoic and bears the pain. His colleagues pay the price.
8.THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SHIVA: Shiva, the mad philosopher on campus is found hanging in his hostel room; the verdict is suicide. Two students do not think so and investigate because Shiva had said, "Suicides are ugly. Death is not a negation of life; suicide is.'
9.A DANGEROUS BEND: Twenty- five years of marriage and Usha has to face the truth that there is someone else in her husband’s life. Should she leave or stay?
10.ALIVE: A brush with death brings the awareness of life.
11.THE SQUARE: Four friends, all painters, three successful, have an impromptu contest. The result destroys much more than the friendship.
12.A LIFETIME : Tara and Manav know their love is not meant to be. Manav is prepared to risk everything for this love, Tara sacrifices their love for everyone else's happiness. A story about love under the shadow of honor killing.
13.REFLECTIONS: Saroja’s tells her story to Vaidehi because in Vaidehi’s life she sees a reflection of the futility of her own life. It’s a double story.
14.THE SEEKER: In all ages there have been people who do not just accept, they search for the greater meaning, for the absolute truth. Mungeera's search takes him away from his tribe, into the deep forest where he shares space with a lion and a deer. He thinks he has found the answers he was looking for but his quest is not so easily fulfilled. The search continues......
15.DREAMS CAN TELL: When Laya's husband is reported missing by the army, she starts having strange dreams. Night after night, she searches the vast desert for him. The dreams are so real that Laya has a map of the desert in her room, to mark the progress of her search.
Some more excerpts:
In my first post, I have given excerpts from Delusions, Mr.Krishnan, and The Square.
I would like to share a few more.
The Life and Death of Shiva
“Grace and beauty,” Shiva said, looking deep into space, “grace
and beauty in death and dignity in life, if we can get this out of
our days on earth, that’s enough.”
I waited, waited for him to bring back his penetrating gaze that
seemed to see beyond time and space, but was always a bit
vague and unfocused when he looked at people around him.
I had come to Shiva because I was upset about my cousin’s death.
She had died a meaningless death. She had been waiting for a bus
when a teenager, speeding on his bike, lost control of the vehicle
and rammed into her. I had been brought up along with my cousin
by my aunt and I was finding it difficult to accept her death.
I asked Shiva, “What did you mean when you said grace and
beauty in death?”
“Death is beautiful only when it comes naturally, drawing a
curtain on life.”
“You mean death by old age?”
“No, age has nothing to do with it. Death should come by its
own violation. Suicides are ugly. Death is not a negation of life.
Suicide is.”
I thought about what he said. It was unusual, having a
conversation with Shiva. He generally went from one topic to
another unrelated topic. I asked him, “What about grace? What
do you mean grace in death?”
He did not reply. After a while he said, “What is love? Does one
person inspire love in another? No, the love one has within us
finds someone, mostly unworthy, and transforms him into an
image worthy of our love. We put the person on a pedestal and
begin to worship him and when we worship, we go down on
our knees and crawl and put up with, no, take pride in, whatever
humiliation this worship brings about.”
Had I not known better, I would have thought that Shiva was
speaking about himself, perhaps he was in love. But I knew his
words and his deep silences could be related to anyone and
anything. They were just pieces of what had been a jigsaw puzzle
that had been put together over the years to form the words some
people used to describe Shiva, “Dreamer! Crazy! Mad!”
Dreams Can Tell:
Six months passed during which time nothing changed much
except the seasons. Laya’s dreams continued. She still searched
for Manish in the desert. She had got to know it very well.
When she encountered a sand storm, she waited for it to pass.
Though the landscape changed, entire hills vanished, and new
ones reared their heads, she knew where she was. The sun and
the stars served as a compass. She carried on her search slowly,
meticulously.
To organise her search better, she had a map of the desert in
her room. After every dream, she coloured the parts she had
finished searching. It didn’t feel strange to her. The dreams
were real and they came with a purpose. Because she scoured
the vast desert alone, the search went slowly. When she needed
to dig, she found a shovel. She even used her bare hands. She
was strong and the lonely nights and the wild animals and
poisonous reptiles that came out of hiding when the sun went
down did not scare her. They did not matter. They did not come
in the way of the search. She walked fearlessly even on dark
moonless nights. Nothing would stop her from completing the
search. It was the most important thing for her.
